Health

Megan Graham claims that she had to call 911 on the police...while being arrested.

Graham, who has cognitive and hearing disabilities, said she was recently beaten by a police officer while restrained by other officers in Federal Way, Wash.

Meanwhile, despite her complaint, police want the bruised and battered Graham to be charged with felony assault to a police officer.

"I had a concussion," Graham told KIRO 7. "I still have a hard time understanding how things got so out of control so fast. It was a total lack of communication."

Graham parked her car at an apartment complex where she was going to visit a friend last Monday. As Graham got out of her car, she saw a police car behind her.

"I understood that he saw me using a cell phone," Graham said. "I told the officer I was going to carry my dog 30 feet to a friend's apartment. I told him, 'Hey, you can walk with me.'"

Graham said she never heard the police officer's order that she should get back in her car. Moments later, the police officer got out of his cruiser and grabbed her wrist.

"I pulled my arm back, grabbed my phone and called 911 to call for help," Graham said. "I told the officer I had mental and hearing disabilities and didn't understand why he was trying to hurt me."

In 911 recordings obtained by KIRO 7, Graham shouted at the police officer: "You attacked me before you said anything! There is no point whatsoever for you to touch me like that, especially with my condition, so how dare you even touch me?"

The police officer repeated on the recording: "You are under arrest."

During the 911 call, another responding officer reportedly hit Graham several times in the face.

"I am not resisting," Graham yelled.

"That woman was not resisting, I saw it," said Graham's friend, Deborah Fenwick. "That woman doesn't have a violent bone in her body. She's got a heart of gold. If she would have understood the officer's commands in the first place, she would have absolutely complied with him."

However, the police report states: "As the officer approached, Graham squared off against him in a fighter's stance and attempted to strike him with closed fists. [The officer] responded with closed fist strikes to Graham's face, which brought her to the ground where she was handcuffed."

"It was horrible," Graham said. "I just didn't understand any of it. I told him about my condition. Punching me over and over in the eye is obviously excessive force. He could have handled it a lot differently."